Craft Brewer Opens Beachy Delaware Hotel

Dogfish Head has opened a beachy, beer-centric inn, a stone's throw from its brewery in Delaware.

Dogfish Inn

Cracking open a cold one in the hot summer sun is a time-honored vacation ritual enjoyed everywhere in the states. But if your tastes skew more toward epicurean suds, there's a new destination to sate your palate and plunk down a beach blanket.

Beer lovers with a desire to eat, sleep and live brew culture for a few days in a bucolic coastal town can now book a stay at Dogfish Inn, a 16-room property just opened in Lewes, Del., by the award-winning Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales crew.

"Dogfish is a very diverse company; we have the brewery, a distillery, a restaurant, packaged foods," owner Sam Calagione told ABC News. "A hotel allows us as a, well, the word lifestyle brand is too precious. But it allows us to have a home for beer and nature lovers who want a deeper dive into the Dogfish brand."

And Calagione doesn't just mean diving in the metaphorical sense.

Dogfish Inn

PHOTO: Dogfish Inn rooms feature a slew of amenities for brewheads, such as a ale-infused snacks and a coffee laced with stout.

Located on the harbor in close proximity to a kayak launch, Lewes Beach, Junction & Breakwater Trail and Cape Henlopen State Park, the official tagline of the property is "Welcome to Lewes. Mother Nature, let's do this."

"The Inn has become a base camp for biking to our pub and to our brewery," said Calagione, who was inspired by friend and brewer Tea Musso's guest house outside of Baladin Brewery in Turin, Italy. "And we want visitors to get back to nature with hiking and nearby beaches."

After exploring the outdoors, Dogfish Head brewpub and distillery in Rehoboth Beach and the production brewery in Milton, guests of the Inn can return with any new brew finds inside of a custom Apolis tote equipped to carry six packs and Champagne bottles.

Rooms designed by Studio Tack have been kitted out with Dogfish beer-infused soaps, mini fridges, Dogfish glassware, bottle openers, and pickles for snacking in between sips.

"There’s a communal picnic table, ice trough, and fire pit in the back of the property and our hope is the guests will find each other there at night and drink what they discovered together during the day and that friendships will be formed," said Calagione.

But if one needs a break from paddleboarding and session ales, there's also an in-house library and a custom coffee blend at the hotel.

"I notice when I stay at small hotels that their libraries are always an afterthought and we wanted to make it a compelling component," said Calagione. "So we asked the staff at City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco to curate their top 50 pieces of American literature for us to feature. You can sign out the books and take them to the beach chairs."

Meanwhile, the java is "something called Chicory Stout coffee," Calagione continued, "made with a blend of Columbian coffee, a proprietary mix of chicory and dark Munich brewer’s barley."